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Apple’s popular news app has been promoting articles from left-leaning news outlets — as it has blocked all posts from conservative publications, according to an explosive study.
The Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group focused on tracking media bias, analyzed a total of 620 stories that were featured by Apple News in the top morning spots between Jan. 1 and 31. The Apple News feed is a mix of stories processed by an in-house editorial team and others by an algorithm.
Of the 620 stories, a whopping 440 appeared in outlets rated as left-leaning, while the remaining 180 were published by centrist outlets. Meanwhile, outlets considered right-leaning – including The Post – were banned entirely.
In January, Apple News featured a total of 72 articles by the Washington Post, 54 articles by the Associated Press, 50 by NBC News, 34 by The Guardian and 25 by NPR, according to MRC data. Published 54 articles for the Wall Street Journal. The numbers for The Post and Fox News were zero and zero, respectively.
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The Media Research Center found that 440 out of 620 Apple News stories read came from left-leaning outlets. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The MRC researchers relied on media bias measurements compiled by AllSides, a non-partisan organization that uses a multi-disciplinary panel of experts – with two members from the left, two from the center and two from the right – trained to detect media bias.
It also conducts blind surveys of average Americans, then averages both sets of results to come up with an estimate.
AllSides experts did not participate in the MRC study or have prior knowledge of its results. Still, Julie Mastrine, who serves as director of AllSides’ media bias rating system, said she was “absolutely not surprised” by the results.
“The bottom line is that the American people who rely on these Big Tech companies to give them news are not getting a balanced view and they are not getting a complete view,” Mastrine said in an interview.
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In a statement provided after the story was published, an Apple spokesperson said the News app “provides access to news covering a wide range of topics from more than 3,000 publications including the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Bloomberg, USA Today, Washington Examiner, New York Post, CBS News, local outlets, and more.”
“Apple News users can personalize the app by choosing to follow or block specific publications or topics,” a spokesperson said.
As of Monday, Apple News had gone 96 days in a row without featuring a story published in consecutive publications on its top stories.
The MRC alleged that Apple News “focused heavily on President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and immigration policy in negative ways” during the analysis. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
The MRC, which began publishing data on news aggregators in November, said Apple News last published an article by a right-leaning source on November 5, when it ran a story by British outlet The Telegraph about the civil war in Sudan.
The MRC noted that the Apple News feed “focused heavily on President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and immigration policy in negative ways” at the time, including selecting “inflammatory headlines that raise doubts about Trump’s actions” as they relate to foreign and foreign policy.
“Nearly half of voting-age Americans own an Apple iPhone,” MRC’s Dan Schneider told The Post. “Yes, all of its phones come pre-installed with Apple News. Swipe right and you’re inundated with cherry-picked Apple news. Most people don’t even know they’re being fed one leftist news after another.”
In 2023, AllSides conducted its own bias research on the 10 most popular news aggregation services. Apple News was given a “left-leaning” rating, with only Yahoo News and Bing News rated as more liberal-leaning in its news coverage.
“The right-leaning media is underrepresented,” Mastrine said.
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Since Jan. 1 through 12, MRC tracked the top 20 stories from AllSides-rated outlets that appeared on Apple News around 10 a.m. ET. Since Jan. 12 to 31, MRC did the same, but tested the Apple News app at 8:30 am ET.
Schneider said the MRC has “tried different times” to see if it changes the results, but intends to update Apple News in the morning to be consistent.
The 620 articles included in the MRC classification in January include 30 stories from The Athletic, a sports website owned by The New York Times. The Times itself stopped participating with Apple News in 2020. The number also includes 27 pieces of original Apple content, most of which were linked to its daily “Apple News Today” podcast.
“It’s a small form of propaganda, paid for with corporate dollars but without the disclosure of campaign funds,” Schneider said. “It might be illegal.”
MRC’s Dan Schneider told the New York Post that Apple News’ behavior is “low-grade propaganda.” (Stock)
The allegations could be a headache for Apple and its CEO, Tim Cook, who has met with President Trump since he took office last year. Key federal regulators appointed by Trump are actively looking to end media bias in Big Tech and beyond.
In February 2024, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson launched an investigation into technology censorship and said his agency wanted to “better understand how these companies may be breaking the law by silencing and intimidating Americans from speaking their minds.”
The FTC also cleared a major merger between ad giants Omnicom and Interpublic on the condition that they avoid anything like boycotting politically motivated ads in the future.
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Elsewhere, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a staunch ally of Trump, blasted Jimmy Kimmel last September over inflammatory comments he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
This week, Carr’s FCC opened an investigation into ABC’s “The View” and whether it violated laws requiring equal time to interview political candidates.
